Being involved in an accident resulting in personal injury can be overwhelming. Accidents can create serious financial hardships for injured parties, including medical bills, vehicle or property repairs, and lost income. Fortunately, the answer to the question, "What kind of damages can you sue for?"—is plenty.
Speak to a local personal injury lawyer to discuss the specifics of your accident, injuries, and subsequent damages to determine a path to financial compensation. You shouldn't be responsible for paying for injury and recovery costs to an accident that wasn't your fault.
Table of contents
Personal Injury Claims and Lawsuits
While there are many damages you can sue for after an accident, most personal injury cases are settled as insurance claims rather than lawsuits. Lawsuits can be very time-consuming and expensive.
Liable insurance companies and personal injury attorneys will typically attempt to negotiate and resolve cases to avoid those constraints for their clients and on their own resources. Types of accidents a personal injury lawyer may help you recover damages for are as follows:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Motorcycle collisions
- Rideshare accidents (Uber, Lyft)
- Drunk driving collisions
- Bicycle accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Wrongful death
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs)
- Workers' compensation
- Premises liability (dog bites, slip and falls)
- Construction accidents
- Sexual abuse
- Product liability
Personal injury claims may evolve into civil lawsuits if liable insurers and attorneys cannot agree on settlement terms outside of court. Sometimes, insurance companies refuse negotiations and insist on a lawsuit upfront. However, most personal injury cases are resolved before trial. Consult a personal injury attorney to determine the merits of your claim or lawsuit.
What Kind of Damages Can You Sue for in a Civil Lawsuit?
Several kinds of damages exist depending on the nature of your accident claim. Your personal injury lawyer will listen to your recollection of events and investigate the circumstances before comprehensively valuing the damages in your case to maximize compensation.
Compensatory Damages
Compensatory damages are most sought in personal injury law. They are the culmination of your economic and non-economic damages incurred from an accident and are defined as:
- Economic Damages: Economic or special damages are the tangible damages you can sue for after an accident resulting in personal injury. Their monetary losses are quantifiable by their billing statements, invoices, receipts, and other financial documents.
- Non-Economic Damages: Non-economic or general damages are the intangible damages you can sue for after an accident. They are non-monetary losses that can not be calculated by a paper trail but deserve financial compensation. Non-economic damages are often called pain and suffering in personal injury cases.
Accident victims should keep all paperwork documenting monetary losses to prove compensatory damages. Provide copies of everything to your personal injury attorney to ensure adequate compensation. Lawyers heavily depend on medical and mental health records, witness testimony, and post-accident injury journals to prove non-economic damages.
Statutory Damages
Monetary awards, called statutory damages, are granted in civil lawsuits where proving the plaintiff's degree of harm is more challenging. They are predetermined by a statute rather than calculated based on actual harm and injury. Statutory damages are commonly awarded in intellectual property or copyright law infringement cases.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages, also known as exemplary damages, are rarely awarded in civil lawsuits. The court awards punitive damages when the defendant's actions are grossly negligent or reckless. The intent is to punish the defendant's heinous actions and deter others from committing the same acts. Punitive damages are only awarded in addition to compensatory damages in about five percent of all verdicts.
Nominal Damages
A less common type of damage claim is referred to as nominal damages. These are awarded to victims whose legal rights were violated but did not suffer actual harm or damages. Unlike compensatory damages, which are meant to compensate for injuries and losses, nominal damages honor a plaintiff's vindication in court for another person's wrongdoing. The vast majority of cases see nominal damages awarded in the amount of one dollar. Others recover nominal damages for the cost of litigation.
Economic Damages You Can Sue for After an Accident
The economic damages you can sue for after an accident include all monetary losses incurred from the accident. Depending on the severity of your injuries and the length of treatment needed to recover, these costs can add up quickly. Typical economic damages include healthcare expenses, disability costs, lost earnings, property damages, and domestic services.
Healthcare Expenses
Medical treatment can amount to colossal expenses and financial debt following the negligence of another. Personal injury victims can sue for all healthcare costs associated with an accident, such as:
- Emergency Services—ambulance transport from the accident scene, ER and urgent care visits, emergency diagnosis and treatment, hospitalizations, and imaging services, including X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans.
- Primary Care—medical evaluation following an accident and follow-up primary care visits to assess symptoms, manage pain, and document your injuries recovery.
- Surgical Care—surgical evaluations, anesthesiology services, surgeries, and post-operative care following surgical procedures.
- Rehabilitation Services—physical therapy, traction, chiropractor adjustments, orthopedics, vocational therapy, occupational therapy, audiology, neurological physical therapy, acupuncture, massage, and speech and language therapy.
- Mental Health Services—mental health evaluation and diagnosis, ongoing mental health care, therapy treatments, mental health workbooks, and medication.
In addition to medical treatment damages, injured parties should document travel time and expenses to and from appointments. These costs include the back-and-forth to local appointments and hotel expenses associated with medical treatments far from home.
Keep receipts for gas and clock your mileage in your post-accident injury journal. If your injuries prohibit you from driving or your vehicle is in the shop being repaired, keep a record of all rental car and rideshare expenses. Your attorney will include all financial expenses in their demand letter to liable parties, including estimated future medical care costs.
Disability Damages
Disability damages can include compensation for the inability to perform daily tasks or work due to injury. These injuries may involve impaired mobility, the loss of a limb, vision impairment, hearing loss, paralysis, cognitive impairments from traumatic brain injuries, and PTSD. Examples of disability damages are as follows:
- Lost Earning Capacity—injuries preventing you from returning to work at your previous job or working at the same level will consider your diminished or lost earning capacity.
- Assistive Device Needs—device or equipment expenses associated with disability, such as canes, walkers, wheelchairs, prosthetics, and hearing devices.
- Home Modifications—costs associated with modifying your home for mobility, including wheelchair ramps, chair lifts, widening doorways, lowering countertops, and installing accessible bathrooms.
- Vehicle Modifications—expenses associated with modifying your vehicle to accommodate a disability, including hand controls for brakes and acceleration pads, seat belt adjustments, and steering devices, like spinner knobs and prosthetic hook and hand securement. Wheelchair-accessible vehicle replacement is another damage you can sue for after an accident.
Your personal injury lawyer will consider your age, education, and severity of injuries when determining the value of your disability damages. Younger accident victims may receive higher disability damages due to the potential for longer-term income losses.
Lost Earnings
When injuries and recovery time cause accident victims to miss work, those income losses are recoverable damages. Lost earnings can range from missing a few weeks of income to being unable to return to work. Standard income losses include:
- Income or annual salary
- Lost overtime
- Lost commissions and tips
- Lost bonuses and raises
- Loss of benefits, such as medical and retirement
- Lost vacation time and sick leave
- Inability to make progress toward promotions
Diminished earning power is another damage your lawyer may calculate if your injuries prevent you from returning to work in the same capacity. Your personal injury attorney will consult economists and vocational therapist experts to determine and ensure these damages.
Property Damages
Many personal injury accidents involve property damages in addition to healthcare costs. Depending on the nature of your accident, property damages may involve:
- Auto, truck, or motorcycle repairs
- Vehicle replacement costs
- Rental or rideshare vehicle services
- Cell phones, smart watches, computers, and GPS devices
- Clothing, glasses, sunglasses, and jewelry
- Bicycles, scooters, skateboards, and hoverboards
- Safety equipment, like helmets and car seats
- Damages to your home or commercial building
- Outside damages—fencing, mailboxes, gardens, landscaping, and sprinkler systems
- Groceries and luggage
This is not an exhaustive list of property damages your attorney may recover in a settlement. You can include any personal property damaged or destroyed in your accident.
Domestic Services
Injured parties who need to hire outside help to handle domestic services may include them in their demand letter for compensation. Domestic services personal injury victims often recover are as follows:
- Cleaning or personal chef services
- Housekeeping and laundry services
- Childcare or daycare expenses
- Lawn maintenance and landscaping
- Grocery delivery services
- Uber Eats and DoorDash food delivery
- Prescription and pharmacy delivery services
Sometimes, accident victims are responsible for caring for older loved ones, like parents, in their homes. If that is your case, you may seek damages for senior care services hired to help care for your loved one that you couldn't care for due to your injuries.
Non-Economic Damages You Can Sue for After an Accident
Non-economic damages are the intangible losses you can sue for after an accident. Unlike economic damages, non-economic damages do not come with a bill or receipt. Your attorney will consider the extent of your pain and suffering, the duration of your recovery, and the impact on your ability to participate in daily activities when determining non-economic damages, such as:
- Physical pain (acute and chronic)
- Permanent impairment (amputation, disfigurement, hearing and vision loss)
- Traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries
- Mental suffering and emotional distress
- Sleep loss (insomnia, nightmares)
- A decreased quality of life (inability to perform daily tasks)
- Loss of reputation, embarrassment, and humiliation
- Generalized anxiety
- Post-accident depression
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- A shortened life expectancy due to injuries
- A worsening of existing conditions or injuries
- Sexual dysfunction
- Loss of society and companionship
- Limitations or restrictions on daily activities
- Disability
- Development of phobia associated with your accident type
- Development of a substance use disorder due to pain management
Proving non-economic damages can be more challenging because they lack exact numerical costs. However, that doesn't make it impossible or any less important to recover after your accident.
Document your non-economic damages with a post-accident injury journal. Include dates and details about your pain intensity on a scale of 1-10, frequency and location of pain, duration, and activities that worsen or lessen your pain.
Calculating Non-Economic Damages
How do liable parties and attorneys determine compensation for damages without receipts? Personal injury lawyers use two methods to calculate non-economic damages associated with accidents—the multiplier and per diem methods:
- The Multiplier Method: The most common method for calculating non-economic damages. The multiplier method involves multiplying your economic damages by a factor based on the severity of your injuries and their impact on your life. The factor used will range between 1.5 and 5. For example, if your economic damages are $150,000 with a determined severity of 2, your non-economic damages will equal $300,000.
- The Per Diem Method: Another method for calculating non-economic damages involves factoring in the per diem or daily rate. The per diem method determines a daily dollar value to calculate the non-economic damages before multiplying it by the days you are expected to experience pain and suffering. For example, a per diem value of $200 a day with an expectation of six months of pain will equal $36,000.
Unlike economic damages, many states impose damage caps on non-economic damages. These caps depend on accident and injury type and state jurisdiction. Ask your attorney to clarify local regulations.
Wrongful Death Damages You Can Sue for After an Accident
Families suffering the loss of a loved one can sue for wrongful death damages. State jurisdiction determines who is eligible to file for wrongful death damages, including:
- The decedent's final arrangement costs (funeral, burial, cremation)
- The final healthcare costs of the decedent
- Conscious pain and suffering of the decedent before their death
- Pain and suffering of the surviving family members
- Loss of domestic services
- Loss of consortium (companionship, love, spousal relations, assistance, service)
- Loss of parental guidance and support
- Loss of inheritance
Your personal injury lawyer may calculate damages for losing the decedent's financial support. These calculations include lost earnings or salary, bonuses, benefits, and the decedent's future income, including potential raises and promotions, assessed by their projected career trajectory.
Consult a Personal Injury Attorney
Schedule a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer to discuss the details of your accident, injuries, and treatment. You'll want to strategize a plan to secure financial compensation for your expenses and additional damages.